The director passed away in Paris on Thursday (27Aug15), aged 54.

Chaumeil began his career as an assistant, under the tutelage of Regis Wargnier, on the set of 1988's Je Suis le Seigneur du Chateau (I'm the King of the Castle), before working with Luc Besson on films including The Fifth Element in 1997 and The Messenger in 1999.

He rose to international prominence with 2010's Heartbreaker, starring Vanessa Paradis and Romain Duris, and garnered critical acclaim for the movie, picking up five Cesar Award nominations, including Best Film.

Chaumeil's other works include Diane Kruger's A Perfect Plan (2012) and his English-language debut, A Long Way Down, which debuted at the Berlin Film Festival last year (14). The adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel of the same name featured Pierce Brosnan and Toni Collette in leading roles.

He had recently completed post-production on his final work, Un Petit Boulot (A Little Job), which reunited him with Duris. The project will be released, as planned, in January (16), according to his widow Camille.